'A different relationship with food and nature': Quebec program brings city kids to the farm
On the edge of the Quebec-Ontario border, a summer camp is giving city kids a chance to get their hands dirty.
At Young Roots Farm, campers get a break from urban living as they learn about sustainable farming.
The program is run by Camp Amy Molson (C.A.M.) in Grenville-sur-la-Rouge, Que.
"Farming is so relaxing, everyone should do it. It really helps deal with stress," said C.A.M. counsellor Zedekai McKenzie.
"There's a lot more vegetables, a lot more places to plant new things."
Farm coordinator Amy Castillo told CTV News the goal is to give kids a sense of self-sufficiency and confidence.
"Sometimes we struggle as kids, as grown-ups. It's identity. '[Am I] fitting in here, fitting in there?' On the land, that doesn't exist," said Castillo. "It's just more belonging, and that's what we're aiming to teach the kids with the farm."
The program also helps shape the children's understanding of the natural world and where the food on their table comes from.
"They kinda develop a different relationship with food, with nature, with animals," said training director Emelie Sattaratn.
The campers prep a daily salad bar, chopping and tasting their crop -- like arts and crafts that you can eat.
Produce from the farm also goes to markets in the area, and even some Montreal restaurants.
(CTV News)
"It's organic, very delicious," said Castillo. "And at the same time, all the money we get goes into nurturing the farm [so it] keeps being sustainable. I think that's also why they order, because they know the project."
It's a feeling that rings true for chef Paul Toussaint of the restaurant Kamuy in Montreal.
"You're going to have the best vegetables because they are not there for the money, they're not there for 'I need to make a lot of products to sell' -- no. They're doing it for love," he said.
"We need the vegetables. At the same time, we have to respect the soil and we have to respect the environment."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.